For the Geek in all of us

Interview with Kelly Jamieson, Author of Jilted

Please welcome Kelly Jamieson to the virtual offices today! She’s here to talk about her latest, Jilted, which is the first book in the Promise Harbor Wedding continuity. If you have been reading the blog for long, you know how much I love these interconnected stories.

[Kelly Jamieson] Jilted is the first book in The Promise Harbor Wedding stories. All four books stand alone, but have overlapping characters, and all center around a wedding in Promise Harbor, Massachusetts. Jilted is the story of the groom (I guess you can figure out from the title what happens to him!), the next book is Bolted, which is the story of the matron of honor, then Busted, the best man’s story, and finally Hitched, the bride’s story.

[Manga Maniac Cafe] How did you come up with the concept and the characters for the story?

[Kelly Jamieson] My author-partners Erin Nicholas, Meg Benjamin and Sydney Somers and I spent hours in a chat room brainstorming ideas for the story. Right from the start, I think we had the idea that we wanted the stories to center on a specific event, but each story would go its own way, rather than a true “series” where one story would pick up where the other left off. We tossed around ideas like a funeral bringing some siblings back together, a restaurant idea, and a few other things, and ended up with the wedding. A wedding that goes all wrong. Then we each took a member of the wedding party and developed our own stories. We had to do more brainstorming around the things that were common in each book, like the location, details of the wedding, and some minor characters who appear in each book. Even as we were doing edits, I was emailing them questions like “Do Devon and Hayley know each other?” and “How long ago did Allie and Gavin break up?” There were a lot of little details we wanted to get right – hopefully we did!

[Manga Maniac Cafe] What three things will you never find in Josh’s bathroom?

[Kelly Jamieson] Josh has an awesome bathroom because he’s fixing up a big old house on the outskirts of Promise Harbor. And I’m stumped thinking of things you will never find in there, because he’s a pretty open-minded kind of guy. He prefers showers over baths, so he never had bubble bath, but since Devon likes nice long baths and smelly, girly things, he’ll buy some bubble bath and all her favorite body washes and shampoos and lotions that smell like jasmine and mandarin and sweet sugar. You might even find wine glasses in his bathroom now.

[Manga Maniac Cafe] What is Devon’s greatest regret?

[Kelly Jamieson] Not being honest about her feelings with the people she loves.

[Manga Maniac Cafe] What are your greatest creative influences?

[Kelly Jamieson] Wow, that’s a tough question. I think I’m influenced creatively by so many things – I’ve gotten little germs of story ideas from newspaper stories, advice columns, magazine articles, TV shows… I’m a very visual person, so looking at romantic pictures on Pinterest sometimes inspires me. Music inspires me – in fact, the song “Someone Like You” by Adele was a major influence on Jilted — the idea of a woman coming back to see her ex-boyfriend marrying someone else. I’m also inspired by reading great romance stories by other authors.

[Manga Maniac Cafe] What three things do you need in order to write?

[Kelly Jamieson] Definitely my computer – I cannot write longhand! I type very fast, almost as fast as I think. ? Internet access. And quiet – I can’t write when my family is yacking at me. Especially when I’m writing sex scenes.

[Manga Maniac Cafe] What is the last book that you read that knocked your socks off?

[Kelly Jamieson] Hmmm…I’m going to say Hold ‘Em by Katie Porter. I loved all those Vegas Top Guns books, but this one was really sexy. Maybe it got me because I never thought I’d like a male submissive story, but wow, I loved Mike!

[Manga Maniac Cafe] If you had to pick one book that turned you on to reading, which would it be?

[Kelly Jamieson] It would be one of the Bobbsey Twins books – yes, I am that old. I devoured those books when I was about 7 or 8 years old and have been an avid reader ever since.

[Manga Maniac Cafe] What do you like to do when you aren’t writing?

[Kelly Jamieson] Read. Read, read, read. I also like shopping for shoes, but that’s really a rare event these days. Really.

[Manga Maniac Cafe] How can readers connect with you?

[Kelly Jamieson] I love hearing from readers! You can email me at info@kellyjamieson.com, or message me on Twitter, Facebook or Goodreads.

You can purchase Jilted and all of the other books in the Promise Harbor Wedding continuity from your favorite bookseller or by clicking the links below:

About the book:

The wedding’s off but the honeymoon is on… The Promise Harbor Wedding, Book 1 Devon can do this. She can show up at her ex-boyfriend Josh’s wedding, even though he’s marrying her ex-best-friend. She can show everyone she’s happy with her fabulous life in Boston, her great career, her amazing shoes — and she can show everyone she’s over him. Truth is, her life isn’t so fabulous. She’s just been downsized out of her job, her Jimmy Choos won’t pay her mortgage, and…she’s still heartbroken that Josh chose family over her. The real reason she’s enduring this wedding is that her next stop is nearby Greenbush Island, her last hope of finding a new job. Josh knows marrying long-time friend Allie will make everyone happy after the rough time their families have been through, and since the woman he really wanted to marry chose her career and big city life over him — why not? But the perfect wedding turns into a perfect disaster when Allie leaves him at the altar for another man. He never saw that coming! But hey, Devon’s there, offering to help him look for Allie on Greenbush Island, where he’d planned their honeymoon. Only, all they find are their old feelings for each other and a temptation to risk their hearts one more time… Warning: This book contains a firefighter hot enough to ignite flames, a woman who doesn’t want to get burned again, a honeymoon suite but no honeymoon, and sex not on the beach (sorry)